Talks On UN "Green Fund" Set For Late April

Delegates from 40 nations tasked with designing a "green fund" to help poor countries cope with climate change will hold their first meeting in late April, U.N. officials said on Thursday.

The meeting to start developing the Green Climate Fund, which had been postponed over disagreements about who should attend, will be held in Mexico City on April 28-29.

Climate talks in December committed rich countries to finance $100 billion a year in climate aid for poor countries from 2020.

That was one of the modest goals achieved during that last major climate summit, which failed to end in a binding deal to limit greenhouses gasses like tailpipe exhaust and industrial smog.

Since that event, held in the Mexican resort city of Cancun, delegates from the 40 nations that will help govern the fund had not been able fix a meeting date.

The fund was part of a package that included steps to protect tropical forests and share clean technologies.

Rising aid is meant to help developing nations curb their greenhouse gas emissions by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energies and to help them adapt to effects of heat waves, droughts, floods, storms and rising sea levels.